Traditional methods of displaying video in an aspect ratio different than the aspect ratio of the display medium require projecting the image in the middle of the screen and resizing the video. FIG. 1 illustrates a video 104 projected onto a display screen 102 according to the traditional method. As seen in FIG. 1a, since the aspect ratio of video 104 differs from that of display screen 102, video 104 does not fit display screen in proper proportion. As a result, bars 106 or 108, which are the color of display screen 102, appear at the top and the bottom of video 104. Usually, bars 106 and 108 differ in color from video 104 and, thus, may distract a user viewing video 104.
In order for video 104 to fit display screen 102 in better proportion, the user may scale the width of video 104 to the maximum horizontal width of the display device to fit display screen 102. Then, the display device or the user scales the height of video 104 proportionally according to the aspect ratio of video 104. FIG. 1b illustrates scaling or “stretching” video image 104 to fit display screen 102. However, once the user scales video 104 to fit display screen 102, scaling errors may be introduced into video 104. Thus, the quality of video 104 would be reduced and the viewing experience for the user would be degraded.
Furthermore, FIG. 1c illustrates noise 110 which often appears near the top edges of a video 104. Traditional methods use an overscan technique to slightly zoom in video 104 a few percent to avoid such noises being visible to a viewer. Once the user scales video 104 as in FIG. 1b, however, noise 110 may become visible to the user.